The Mad New World of SEO

When you first opened your home to rent, you knew that you would be required to wear many hats and fulfill dozens of roles on a weekly basis.

But sometimes, it comes as a surprise that you also have to be an online marketing expert while additionally maintaining daily operations.

Search engine optimization — or SEO — is an important part of your web development strategy. You need to use powerful and relevant keywords to rank highly in the search results.

Here are a few SEO basics you need to know when it comes to incorporating keywords into your content:

Place keywords in Title Page and Headers

Search engines, such as Google, are going to crawl your title page and headers to rank your site on the search engine results page.

Use your targeted keyword in the title page, and incorporate variations of the keyword into the headers.

For example, if you have a holiday home in Cork, you would want to use the following keywords:

Title Page: Local Home to rent in Cork, Ireland
H1 Header: Welcome to Cork: Your home to rent in Ireland awaits

Incorporate keywords into Main Content

Adding your target keywords into your main content takes finesse. You need to place the keywords in a prominent location, but they also need to occur naturally within the text.

The search engines place a priority on relevant and accurate content, so you can’t fall into the habit of keyword-stuffing your content.

Ultimately, your specific target keyword should appear exactly as-is at least twice during the text. The first appearance should occur within the first several lines of the content.

You should research high volume search words that are relevant to your business and include these in your content. Ie, these are keywords that receive a high volume of hits while doing a current events search: Chelsea Football Club, ‪Tottenham Hotspur F.C., ‪Antonio Conte

Also, you will want to add keyword variations and even relevant photos with hyperlinks into different parts of the content.

Don’t forget about Meta Keywords and Meta Phrases

The metadata for your website is going to be seen by your guests, but it’s highly visible to the search engines that are ranking your website.

This is why it’s necessary to optimize your meta phrases and keywords with your target keywords. Adding a location to your keyword is critical, particularly for businesses in the travel industry.

For the meta description: Verify that it is less than 156 characters. Use the target keyword or keyword phrase in the first sentence, and include a call-to-action.

For the meta keywords: Verify that the keywords are less than 25 words combined. Use keyword variations that are relevant without being repetitive. This is a good place to include common mistakes and misspellings that a searcher might use when looking for your property.

Monitor your Google Analytics account frequently to understand the keywords that are trending and to select the keyword phrases that are most relevant to your home to rent.

If you’re looking to revamp your website, Cloverleaf Cottage’s tips could be just what you’re looking for.